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Written by Bobby Reyes
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Sunday, 30 August 2009 20:09 |
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THE WORKS OF MERCY
Jesus Is merciful. We must imitate his example.
Jesus returned to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and He went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day (Gospel of the Mass (Luke 4:16-30)). There they gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah to read. He opened the book at a passage which has a clearly Messianic meaning: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
Jesus rolled up the book, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. There was a great air of expectation among his listeners, all of whom had known him from boyhood. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Very likely Our Lady too was present. Our Lord then said to them quite plainly: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
In this passage (cf Is 61:1-2) the prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah to free his people from their afflictions. These words of Our Lord are, as Pope John Paul II says, his first Messianic declaration. They are followed by the actions and words known through the Gospel. By these actions and words Christ makes the Father present among men. It is very significant that the people in question are especially the poor, those without means of subsistence, those deprived of their freedom; the blind who cannot see the beauty of creation, those living with broken hearts, or suffering from social injustice, and finally sinners. It is especially for these last that the Messiah becomes a particularly clear sign of God who is love (John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, 30 November 1980, 3).
Later on, when John the Baptist’s envoys ask him if he is the Christ or if they have to wait for another, Jesus tells them to go and relate to John what they have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the good news preached to them (Luke 7:22ff).
Christ’s love for men is shown especially in his encounter with suffering, with anything in which human weakness, both physical and moral, is to be seen. It thus reveals God the Father’s untiring concern for mankind, a concern which is love (1 John 4:16) and rich in mercy (Eph 2:4).
With permission from Scepter UK. Short excerpt from IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD by Francis Fernandez. Available at SinagTala or Totus Bookstore 723-4326 or at www.totusbookstore. com (info@totusbookstore .com)
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